The mineral is similar to newgrablenovite, which was only identified a few years ago in basalt rock from Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula. Both the lunar and terrestrial versions have the chemical formula (NH4)MgCl3·6H2O and similar crystal structures.

Since newgrablenovite can be studied here on Earth, the discovery of an almost identical mineral on the Moon can provide scientists with clues about where lunar water is hidden and how it got there, as well as insights into the history of lunar H2O.

The origin, presence, and distribution of water on the Moon remain a mystery. Scientists are eager to uncover this information because understanding where lunar moisture comes from and where it is currently located is a vital component of the Earth-Moon system’s history.

Moreover, knowing where water is located is crucial for future lunar exploration missions, as humans need water to survive.

Water has previously been found in older lunar samples, trapped in tiny glass beads formed when surface material melts. The detection of water signals in the light spectrum reflected from the Moon’s surface suggests there is much more to discover.

The discovery also points to a previously unknown source of water on the Moon—hydrated salts, which are much more stable than water ice.

This suggests that water could be accessible even in areas of the Moon that are frequently exposed to sunlight, reducing future reliance on water ice found deep within craters at the lunar poles.

The post Chinese Mission Discovers Significant Water-Rich Minerals on the Moon appeared first on CorD Magazine.

This remarkable feat surpasses their previous record set in 2017, which boasted a resolution of 15 nanometers.

In an official statement, the institute highlighted its collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), and the University of Southern California. Achieving the four-nanometer resolution required the use of ptychography, a sophisticated computational technique that merges numerous individual images to create one high-resolution image.

This groundbreaking advancement in X-ray technology not only underscores the Paul Scherrer Institute’s leading role in the field but also promises significant implications for scientific research and technology development worldwide.

Photo: Paul Scherrer Institute

The post Swiss Institute Achieves New World Record for X-Ray Imaging Precision appeared first on CorD Magazine.

This expansion, announced on LinkedIn, marks a key growth step for the company, which has a registered capital of 2,000 convertible marks in Bosnia and Herzegovina and recently established a branch in Banja Luka.

Ananas had previously entered the North Macedonian market by acquiring Vebspot, along with its brands Grouper.mk and Paopao.mk.

The post Ananas Expands Operations to Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Scientists from China and Belgium utilized data collected by NASA’s Messenger spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2004 to 2015, to investigate the planet’s internal structure.

When Mercury formed around 4.5 billion years ago, its metallic core was completely liquid. Over time, this core gradually crystallized. The new study suggests that under extreme pressure, carbon dioxide present in the mantle transformed into diamond

The researchers propose that two key processes could have led to the formation of this diamond layer. “The first is the crystallization of a magma ocean, but this process likely contributed to the formation of only a very thin diamond layer on the surface of the core. The second, and most important, is the crystallization of Mercury’s metallic core,” explained Olivier Namur, a member of the research team.

Previously, scientists had hypothesized that more than a quadrillion tons of diamonds could be scattered beneath Earth’s surface. These minerals are believed to be buried over 160 kilometers deep, far beyond the reach of any human drilling technology.

This discovery on Mercury opens up new possibilities for understanding the planet’s formation and the processes that occur deep within its interior, adding a fascinating chapter to our knowledge of the solar system.

The post Diamond Layer Discovered Beneath Mercury’s Crust appeared first on CorD Magazine.

GoPro Hero 12

The latest action camera from GoPro features enhanced stabilisation and 6K video capabilities.

Oura Ring 3

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iO 10 Electric Toothbrush

Turn your pearly whites into a dazzling smile with iO 10’s smart brushing magic.

Samsung Galaxy S24

The upcoming Galaxy S24 promises a bigger battery and brighter screen, continuing Samsung’s legacy of powerful smartphones.

Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition

Amazon’s newest e-reader with a larger display, wireless charging, and more storage.

Apple Watch Series 9

The newest iteration of Apple’s popular smartwatch series features advanced health monitoring and a sleek design.

Theragun Pro

A top-of-the-line percussive therapy device to relieve muscle tension and enhance recovery.

Dyson Zone

An innovative wearable air purifier with noise-cancelling headphones, perfect for urban dwellers.

Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer

A versatile kitchen gadget that allows you to cook two different foods simultaneously.

Bose Frames Tempo

Sunglasses with built-in Bose speakers, blending fashion with functionality.

The post Top 12 Gadgets Of 2024 appeared first on CorD Magazine.

This move positions Slovenia among the few nations globally to adopt this advanced financial technology.

The €30 million digital bonds will mature in four months. Although DLT is not widely used in financial markets yet, Slovenian officials expect its adoption to grow significantly.

DLT, which includes blockchain technology, offers enhanced security against forgery and unauthorized copying. This issuance is part of the European Central Bank’s pilot program for settling wholesale financial transactions with central bank money, marking a significant step in the digital transformation of financial markets.

The post Slovenia Becomes First in EU to Issue Digital Bonds appeared first on CorD Magazine.

This landmark agreement is expected to significantly boost Serbia’s scientific community by fostering advancements within the BIO4 campus, a strategic biotechnology hub in Southeast Europe.

The memorandum outlines collaborative efforts to strengthen Serbia’s bio-economic startup ecosystem and enhance scientific research, education, and innovation in biomedicine and biotechnology. Minister Jelena Begovic hailed the agreement as a significant achievement for Serbia’s scientific ecosystem, noting Medtronic’s reputation for developing cutting-edge medical devices since its founding in 1949.

Medtronic, employing nearly 100,000 people globally and investing almost $3 billion annually in R&D, views this partnership as a testament to Serbia’s growing status as an innovation hub. Majid Kadumi, Medtronic’s senior vice president for EMEA, praised Serbia’s impressive scientific heritage and potential for future benefits.

The collaboration promises to leverage Medtronic’s extensive expertise and Serbia’s innovative capabilities, marking a major step forward in the region’s biomedical and technological landscape.

Photo: Zoran Petrović/nitra.gov.rs

The post Medtronic to Launch Operations in Serbia with Strategic Bio4 Campus Partnership appeared first on CorD Magazine.

The Rubin Observatory is an advanced, integrated system featuring an 8-meter primary telescope, a high-resolution camera, and an automated data processing system, as detailed on the official website. The observatory is expected to collect around 20 terabytes of data daily, culminating in a 15-petabyte catalog over its decade-long survey.

This ambitious mission aims to enhance our understanding of dark matter and assess potential asteroid impact threats to Earth, as well as studying nearby stars and planets.

The post Chile to Install World’s Largest Astronomy Camera  appeared first on CorD Magazine.

First held in 1905, the Geneva Motor Show attracted 17,000 visitors and had two more editions before being paused due to the economic crisis and World War I. It resumed in 1923 and reached its peak in 2005, drawing nearly 750,000 visitors.

The coronavirus pandemic forced the show to shut down again for four years. When it reopened earlier this year, it saw only 37 exhibitors and 168,000 visitors, a stark contrast to the 602,000 visitors and 184 exhibitors in 2019.

Alexandre de Senarclens, President of the foundation’s permanent committee, expressed deep regret over the decision to cancel the event permanently. “It is a decision of utmost regret,” he said.

While the Geneva Motor Show will not return, the Geneva International Motor Show Qatar (GIMS Qatar) will continue in the Middle East, with the next event scheduled for November 2025 in Doha.

The post Geneva Motor Show Shuts Down After 119 Years appeared first on CorD Magazine.

The financial system is ready for a giant leap forward. It’s time to explore new frontiers. We foresee a time when applying for a mortgage or a small business loan could be as easy as texting a friend or booking a hotel room online.

There has been some progress on technology to enable such a new reality, as evidenced by the proliferation of mobile-payment apps. But transforming financial services will require creating an entirely new system to match the advances made in communications since the advent of the internet and smartphones. Today’s mobile phones are powerful computers, after all, so it would be a waste not to maximize their use.

To this end, we have drawn on our joint expertise in economics and technology to offer a blueprint for the future financial architecture. What we call the “Finternet” is a vision of multiple financial ecosystems that connect with one another, much like the internet, in order to give individuals and businesses full control over their financial lives. We foresee a world in which people and companies can use any device to transfer any financial asset – no matter the amount – to anyone in the world. These transactions would be cheap, secure, near-instantaneous, and available to all.

This new system would be particularly important for emerging and developing economies, where large gaps in access to financial services remain despite efforts to bolster inclusion. Many services are simply unavailable or not widely available, particularly to people living in remote areas and with low incomes. And even when people are able to access financial products, using them is often expensive and slow.

Important breakthroughs in recent years have paved the way for the Finternet. One example is tokenization, whereby tokens representing digital assets can uniquely identify ownership as well as applicable rules. Another is programmable ledgers, the digital platforms that combine the record-keeping functions of traditional databases with the governance arrangements required to update them.

To unlock the value of financial innovation and build a seamless, interconnected network, we must combine all these elements and break down the current financial system’s barriers and silos. Specifically, bringing together different tokenized assets on unified programmable ledgers would drastically reduce the need for lengthy messaging, clearing, and settlement systems that create extra costs, take more time, and limit access to credit and other financial services.

Unified ledgers would also enable “smart contracts,” which can trigger an action – transferring ownership of a house, for example – if prespecified conditions are met. They could even bundle together numerous automated transactions. So, in the case of a property transfer, the payment of the purchase price and anti-money laundering checks could happen at the same time and take seconds rather than weeks. Overall, these ledgers would meet – and perhaps surpass – today’s regulatory and supervisory standards, while also being faster, cheaper, and more reliable than current systems.

This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redesign the architecture of the financial system, and we should be thinking big and imaginatively, instead of focusing narrowly on individual technologies

But technology is not enough. Central banks, as the guardians of public money, have a major role to play in the new financial architecture. The money they issue is the vehicle through which all economic transactions are ultimately settled. A digital form of this money is thus a necessary foundation for the Finternet. Commercial banks will also play a crucial role in interacting with consumers, not least by providing tokenized bank deposits that will form the lifeblood of the Finternet’s monetary system.

Moreover, a robust regulatory and supervisory structure must underpin the Finternet. Safeguards such as deposit insurance and public oversight of financial- services providers should be maintained to protect customers and ensure that money has the same value regardless of whether it is issued by a central bank or a commercial bank.

The radical use of new technology could streamline the layers of manual checks now required to comply with rules and regulations. This would enable the creation of products that otherwise might not be developed due to compliance burdens, while also ensuring that the Finternet is not used by bad actors seeking to exploit loopholes.

Making the Finternet a reality will take years, but we must start now. The technology is mature enough, and, crucially, we are not yet locked into rigid institutional frameworks or trapped in “walled gardens” of services created by monopolies. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to redesign the architecture of the financial system, and we should be thinking big and imaginatively, instead of focusing narrowly on individual technologies.

We know where we need to go. Equally important, we have the tools to get there. Now the global financial system just needs its “Neil Armstrong moment” – a small step that represents a giant leap for mankind.

By Agustín Carstens, General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements

The post The Rise of the Finternet appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Economics has always had a strange and much-debated relationship with money. For a long time, economists – including Nobel laureates like Merton Miller and Franco Modigliani – regarded money merely as a medium of exchange. But by building on the work of John Maynard Keynes and Hyman Minsky, economists have since moved beyond a narrow focus on the quantity of money to consider its structural influence on the real economy and the financial system.

A structural understanding of money and finance becomes even more important in an increasingly digitalized and cashless world, because there is a growing need for policymakers to operate not just as market fixers but as proactive market shapers. A cashless world not only changes people’s relationship with money and creates new opportunities for how it is managed or even conceived; it also puts new pressure on central banks to reimagine their role and become more innovative.

While plenty of attention has been devoted to experiments with central bank digital currencies, an even more important intervention is to create and shape a new digital infrastructure around interoperable payment systems. Given the structural component of capital, this can increase bank competition, inclusion, and accessibility, and possibly offer new tools for managing economies in the face of crises.

A structural understanding of money and finance becomes even more important in an increasingly digitalized and cashless world, because there is a growing need for policymakers to operate not just as market fixers but as proactive market shapers

Cashless transactions are growing faster than ever as reliance on physical cash declines. Consumers, businesses, and governments clearly prefer cashless technology’s cost-effectiveness and ease of use. Tap-based payment systems, once confined to the realm of tech-savvy urbanites, now pervade even the most rudimentary economies. Interoperable payment systems are quickly emerging as the core economic infrastructure of the digital-era economy, marking a departure from the past 2,000 years of government- issued physical cash.

As with all technological change, this one is not neutral. It has a momentum of its own, and if policymakers do not direct it in the public interest, it could lead to deeper forms of exclusion and other structural problems across the economy. For example, digital payments systems in many countries are not interoperable, which means that the owners can determine who gets access and thereby extract undue rents. Those already on the margins are then pushed further outside the cashless world or, worse, outside the formal economy altogether.

Here, a central bank can serve as more than just a regulator, by influencing or even creating shared infrastructure. It can not only reduce the costs of digital transactions but also create new opportunities to improve efficiency and financial inclusion for those on the fringes of the formal economy. That is what India has done with UPI, an interoperable digital payments infrastructure that has been strongly shaped by the central bank.

Digital payments systems in many countries are not interoperable, which means that the owners can determine who gets access and thereby extract undue rents

It is also what Brazil has done with its Pix system, an interoperable instant-payment service that allows individuals and businesses to send and receive money at any time of day, usually for free or at very low cost. According to the Brazilian Central Bank (BCB), Pix is now the country’s most popular payment method, surpassing credit and debit cards and other transfer methods rivaling cash. Over 66% of the population uses it.

This may sound like a typical fintech success story. Yet it was the BCB that stepped in proactively to build Pix, after it realized that private players would not make their systems interoperable on their own.

Before Pix, each financial institution used its own transaction system and set its own fees. But now the competition has shifted away from fees to focus on the quality and quantity of services that financial institutions offer. Pix, as infrastructure, is delivering real, direct savings for consumers, and supporting inclusion and accessibility.

By driving this change, the BCB is helping to shape a much larger trend toward serving the common good. When a common-good framework becomes the foundation for most economic activities, there will be many more opportunities for collaboration, coordination, and co-investment between governments, private companies, civil society, and international organizations.

While plenty of attention has been devoted to experiments with central bank digital currencies, an even more important intervention is to create and shape a new digital infrastructure around interoperable payment systems

Of course, this role for central banks challenges the traditional view that they are regulation-oriented market fixers that should focus only on guaranteeing financial stability, thus leaving questions of equity, access, and inclusion to the private sector. The public sector has long been assigned the task of merely de-risking the value creators, not taking risks or creating value itself. It is seen as a lender of last resort, not an investor of first resort.

This narrow view of the state’s role in wealth creation has limited policymakers’ understanding of the range of tools and instruments they have for catalyzing sustainable economic growth. Although ensuring the financial system’s stability will remain essential, Brazil and India’s market- shaping efforts around interoperable payment infrastructure demonstrate that central banks have the tools to do more for the common good.

In the United Kingdom, the Bank of England’s newly declared secondary objective is to facilitate innovation in providing financial-market infrastructure services when it exercises its powers as a regulator. It seems the appetite for more ambitious market-shaping may be spreading. We certainly hope so, because bringing about an equitable future will require more ambitious central banks.

By Mariana Mazzucato, Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London

The post Central Banks in a Cashless World Feature appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Since its inception with the launch of Bitcoin in 2008, blockchain technology has gone through numerous cycles of public attention. Over time, growing interest and investment in the bestknown cryptocurrencies has led to greater acceptance, as highlighted by the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF (exchange- traded fund) in January. While blockchains and their associated “crypto” assets have yet to be adopted by a truly broad base of consumers, that is starting to change, owing to a shift in how these technologies are being used.

Contrary to what mainstream media coverage often suggests, for many people, the value of these innovations lies not so much in cryptocurrencies as in block chain-based digital goods such as virtual sneakers, gaming assets, and membership passes – all managed by way of non-fungible tokens. The Everything Token, NFTs – often misunderstood and even derided – are a general and flexible solution for establishing and tracking ownership across all manner of digital assets.

NFTs are already being used in a wide range of contexts – from course credentials to coffee rewards – and they are poised to reshape the management of everything from concert tickets to healthcare data. Since these are business contexts that affect consumers’ everyday experiences, NFTs may start to drive widespread consumer adoption on a scale that previous crypto applications have not.

Blockchains are massive global ledgers that use decentralized cryptographic protocols to record information in a way that is publicly verifiable, secure, and immutable

A big reason for crypto’s lack of mainstream adoption has been its inaccessibility. These are early days, and many crypto applications still require users to interface near the technological rails that run the system. There are few protections against user error or having one’s account compromised, and the necessary technical knowledge makes everything difficult to navigate. But lest we forget, the early internet also was not user-friendly.

Much of the existing crypto infrastructure also lacks the capacity to manage transactions at a global scale, resulting in high transaction costs that frequently fall on the user. Years of regulatory uncertainty have not helped. Both in the United States and globally, there has been a general lack of clarity about which types of digital-asset transactions are permitted, how those assets are assessed for tax purposes, and whether that treatment may change in the future.

But market immaturity and mismatches between available applications have also been significant challenges. As with any novel, general-purpose technology, many early crypto applications were poorly conceived, unsustainable as businesses, or – in some cases – entirely fraudulent.

On top of that, much of the media and regulatory attention has focused on financial and monetary applications. In fact, crypto is hard to use as a medium of exchange until there is broad adoption. Meanwhile, because some early adopters were interested in crypto as a potential investment, financialization bled over into other applications. When domain addresses were introduced on the Ethereum blockchain, for example, the result was a massive speculative market in what amounted to URL-squatting (when someone registers an address in hopes of later reselling it at a premium), which was supercharged by highly liquid crypto trading.

In short, the parallels to the early internet are manifold: the early crypto market has faced technical barriers that limit adoption, early experiments that didn’t always make the best use of the technology, and significant speculation. But, as with the internet, we are witnessing a shift toward better designed, more productive applications as the technology matures. To understand the new-generation applications, it helps to examine more precisely what blockchains are good for.

WHAT BLOCKCHAIN CAN DO FOR YOU

Blockchains are massive global ledgers that use decentralized cryptographic protocols to record information in a way that is publicly verifiable, secure, and immutable. Today’s blockchains can run complex software that makes it possible to define, allocate, and track ownership, on a public ledger, of all manner of digital assets – from units of account (cryptocurrency) to domain addresses, user profiles, and even music tracks and web games. Individual accounts on blockchain- based systems, often referred to as digital wallets, give users direct ownership of whatever is recorded as “theirs” in the ledger. The owner of a given digital asset holds a unique key with which to verify herself as the owner and control which applications interact with her assets (and in what ways).

This is very different from most of the web and social-media experiences that we are accustomed to. Instead of a user having an account on a specific site like Facebook or Amazon – where that user’s data, profile, and other information are stored and controlled by the platform – blockchains allow users to retain complete control over their own account and associated data.

As consumers become acclimated to owning their own digital assets and using them flexibly across the internet, they may even start to demand the same experience from other brands and web platforms

Moreover, users can connect that account to whatever platform they want and switch seamlessly between platforms. By contrast, although you can quit Facebook if you don’t like its policies, you cannot take your content, audience, and reputation with you.

NFTs are digital records that can be held in an individual digital wallet. They act similarly to property deeds. By associating an NFT with another asset – for instance, a piece of digital art, an item in a game, or even a physical asset like a book or a piece of clothing – it becomes easy to define and identify ownership in the digital realm. Some NFTs are transferable and can be bought and sold just like physical goods. Others are non-transferable and tied to a specific account, just like a driver’s license or diploma.

Perhaps the simplest case for NFTs is in contexts where ownership is otherwise difficult to verify, such as with digital event tickets. In this case, NFTs provide a far better solution than the existing technology. A well-known market failure in this area stems from the difficulty of identifying whether a ticket (say, to a Taylor Swift concert) has been resold to multiple people at once on the secondary market – hardly an unimaginable scenario. When a ticket is just a QR code in an email, there’s no way to verify whether a prospective seller has “sold” it to multiple people, or even used it themselves.

NFTs address this by making each ticket a unique digital asset, which only one person – or more precisely, one digital wallet – can own at a time. Once a seller has transferred a ticket NFT to a buyer, the buyer has direct control of it and can verify that she is now the unique owner. Moreover, blockchain software can integrate the ticket transfer and exchange of payment into a single transaction, thus executing a secure transaction without the need for a third-party intermediary.

GOOD FOR BUSINESS

These uses explain why NFTs have grown so popular as a means of defining and exchanging ownership of digital images and other media files. Before NFTs, these markets were especially difficult to establish, because sharing a copy of a media file with a prospective buyer was often tantamount to giving it away. (That is why image databases have historically posted only low-resolution or watermarked files, and why online music marketplaces often allow only short previews of a given song.) Looking ahead, it is easy to see how the same uses will extend to digital trading cards, in-game items, and even library books.

Non-transferable NFTs, meanwhile, allow for secure digital credentialing without the need of a third party. A “digital diploma” NFT certifying completion of a course or academic program could be freely read and verified by any platform to which the holder connects his digital wallet. (For example, LinkedIn could seamlessly verify whether you really did complete an “exec ed” program at Harvard Business School.)

Today’s blockchains can run complex software that makes it possible to define, allocate, and track ownership, on a public ledger, of all manner of digital assets – from units of account (cryptocurrency) to domain addresses, user profiles, and even music tracks and web games

Similarly, NFTs can implement cross-platform subscriptions or memberships. Instead of needing an account with a given publication, simply holding a subscription NFT in your digital wallet could unlock access. Moreover, NFTs can be used to give people direct control of personal data such as health-care records, allowing patients to transfer their data seamlessly to new providers without all the hassle this currently entails.

And, of course, in a world where concern about AI fakes and impersonation is growing, there is a lot of value in being able to create interoperable, platform- agnostic, securely verifiable identity records that a person can use to prove they are who they say they are. These sorts of “proof of personhood” NFTs leverage offline identity verification to produce an on-chain digital asset that can be used to certify identity in contexts such as personal finance, e-commerce, and social media.

Finally, in all these cases – at least with public blockchains – it is easy for digital-asset owners and third parties to create value on top of NFTs beyond simple ownership. These functional utilities range widely in character and scope, from enforcing access to private chat rooms to offering free merchandise and even shared intellectual-property rights. An event sponsor could leverage ticket NFTs as the digital keys to an online fan community. Or a publication like The Economist could give free access to anyone holding a Project Syndicate subscription NFT without needing to interact with PS’s own database.

All of this makes NFTs an ideal technology for fostering consumer engagement. Unlike previous incarnations of digital goods, NFTs are truly owned by their holders, and we know that a greater sense of ownership can enhance brand attachment. If you truly own a valuable item in a popular video game, for example, you will have an incentive to help that game continue and attract new players. At the same time, NFTs’ interoperability makes them easy to showcase and use as part of one’s online identity throughout the digital domain.

BLOCKCHAIN BRANDING

Here, the decentralized value creation that NFTs enable also can help. NFTs publicly surface a brand’s fans and connect them to one another within a mutually reinforcing network. By building community among an initial group of holders, NFT brands cultivate superfans who share their enthusiasm online and draw in others. We are seeing the makings of a new, powerful model of digital brand-building.

New and established brands alike are using this strategy. NFT-native brands like the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Pudgy Penguins, and VeeFriends started with NFT collections and leveraged their communities of early adopters – that is, their NFT holders – as they offered products to a broader consumer market. Similarly, established companies like Nike, Porsche, The Hundreds, and even Time magazine have released NFT collections that encourage their fans and followers to express enthusiasm for their respective brands online.

For example, members of Starbucks’s Odyssey NFT reward program (where one of us, Kaczynski, serves as community lead) can collect NFTs representing the classic Starbucks siren and the popular pumpkin spice latte.

Nfts publicly surface a brand’s fans and connect them to one another within a mutually reinforcing network. By building community among an initial group of holders, nft brands cultivate superfans who share their enthusiasm online and draw in others

Many then display these digital assets online. Because of the way the underlying software works, nearly any NFT can take on this role. An NFT that starts as just a ticket to a baseball game or ballet performance can become an anchor for a rewards program, unlocking a community of shared interest and giving high-value customers unique and valuable perks (like time on the field or an opportunity to meet their favorite prima ballerina).

Of course, NFTs are open to the same kind of speculative financialization that we have seen elsewhere in the crypto market. But the most compelling business uses will center on ubiquitous consumer applications. Even in the context of digital collectibles – which will likely remain a key use – NFTs are likely to become far more broadly accessible, and more focused on identity and community formation than on financial value. For example, we expect to see collectible NFT stamps for national parks, pop concerts, and maybe even for airport security dogs. (Yes, K9 units have trading cards. Ask for one the next time you travel!)

FROM NOVEL TO NATURAL

Unlike with cryptocurrency, for which some people don’t see a reason to own the asset unless they are interested in conducting crypto transactions, consumers will see direct value in these types of NFT uses. Someone might receive her first NFT in the context of an ordinary ticket or coffee purchase, or when she completes an online course. As this happens more frequently, people will enter the blockchain ecosystem, establishing digital wallets and then connecting to more third-party applications.

Because a single digital wallet can be used flexibly across many different platforms, there will be a positive feedback loop whereby consumers who adopt crypto in this way can also more easily acquire and use other types of digital assets. As consumers become acclimated to owning their own digital assets and using them flexibly across the internet, they may even start to demand the same experience from other brands and web platforms.

Thus, even the simplest consumer NFT uses have the potential to become a major driver of crypto adoption, linking fans to the brands and ideas they love, and driving businesses to create more opportunities for them to do so.

The post The Rise of Consumer Crypto NFTS appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Competing against elite teams from top European universities, including those from Budapest, Vienna, Passau, and Regensburg, “Artemi” distinguished itself with an innovative mobile video game. This game allows players to conquer territories by physically moving to specific real-world locations, merging physical activity with digital entertainment. Unique for its focus on independent territorial conquest and community building through engaging mini-games, “Artemi” captivated the judges with its robust business plan and vision for future development.

Danube Cup is an annual competition that brings together entrepreneurial ideas from students and teams across eight universities along the Danube River. Its goal is to support international entrepreneurship and foster collaboration among academic communities and entrepreneurial ecosystems in the Danube region.

Supported by the “Preduzmi ideju” project and the Faculty of Organisational Sciences, both “Artemi” and “Movably” benefited from extensive mentoring and resources. The “Artemi” team was guided by professors Slađana Barjaktarević Rakočević and Mladen Čudanov, as well as mentor Ognjen Nikolić, ensuring their innovative concept was well-prepared for the competition.

The post Belgrade Students Triumph at Danube Cup 2024 in Austria appeared first on CorD Magazine.

Exciting, energising and breathtaking – the Mercedes‑AMG PureSpeed concept is the highlight in the run-up to the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix. The radical design of a completely open, two-seater performance car without a roof or windscreen is a tribute to motor racing. The concept car provides a preview of the first model in the highly limited Mercedes-Benz Mythos series.

The world premiere of the Concept Mercedes‑AMG PureSpeed took place in an exclusive setting on the sidelines of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix. The vehicle was unveiled on a floating pontoon in the harbour of the principality and also impressed Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team racing drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

• Radical design concept kicks off the launch of the highly exclusive Mythos series
• Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed references the design language of legendary racing cars
• Exclusive world premiere on the water as part of the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix
• Small series model to debut next year
•Formula 1 feeling for two people

“The Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed offers a glimpse of what is probably the most direct way to experience performance and driving pleasure. Radically open, neither a roof nor the windscreen separate the two passengers from the elements. You can experience light, air and passion unfiltered with all your senses. As the concept of our first Mythos vehicle, it embodies the highest level of exclusivity. Design elements such as the HALO also create a Formula 1 feeling. There is therefore no better place for its world premiere than Monaco”, Michael Schiebe, Chairman of the Board of Management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH and Head of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class & Mercedes Maybach divisions.

The Concept Mercedes‑AMG PureSpeed celebrates the unique tradition of Mercedes‑Benz with pure and uncompromising race-car design, innovative materials and modern technology. The strictly limited series of 250 units will only be available to the most dedicated Mercedes‑Benz enthusiasts and collectors. Inspired by legendary race cars, the combination of unrivalled racing aesthetics and highly dynamic performance makes the Concept Mercedes‑AMG PureSpeed a unique driving machine for connoisseurs. It embodies the “pinnacle of exclusivity” from Mercedes-Benz in the top segment.

The post Concept Mercedes-AMG PureSpeed appeared first on CorD Magazine.